“Beijing threatened to launch trade probes against the European Union if the 27-member bloc pushes ahead with a proposal to curb imports of heavily subsidized foreign products.
Chinese authorities could initiate anti-discrimination and supply-chain security investigations into the EU's "overcapacity instrument," a social-media account run by China's state broadcaster said Friday, citing unnamed sources.
If the EU advances the tool, China will take immediate action and deploy countermeasures, it added.
The heated rhetoric came ahead of European officials' meeting for closely watched talks on Friday to discuss ramping up the bloc's trade defenses -- a move widely seen as aimed at shielding critical industries from Chinese rivals.
European leaders say China's global industrial dominance is a result of decades of government subsidies and nonreciprocal market access. In a joint paper seen by Dow Jones Newswires foreshadowing the talks, five EU member states including France, Spain and the Netherlands called for the bloc's executive arm to launch more probes into potentially unfair trading practices, be proactive when disputing alleged breaches at the World Trade Organization, amend existing rules to prevent businesses from circumventing them, and allocate more resources to its trade policy unit to tackle a surge in investigations into dumping and subsidies.
The EU's industry chief, Stephane Sejourne, also told the Financial Times and other media outlets this past week that Brussels would broaden the use of its trade defenses such as import quotas and tariffs in a bid to shield European industries such as chemicals and clean technology from state-backed Chinese competitors.
After the commission's debate on Friday ended, the EU executive issued a statement saying trade and investment relations with Beijing aren't sustainable.
"China is a critical partner, and engagement and dialogue will continue. At the same time the current state of the trade and investment relationship is not sustainable," the commission said. "As economic and security interests become ever more intertwined, both dimensions will require a more robust and coherent response," it said, adding that the Friday discussions would feed into work in the coming weeks, ahead of a G7 meeting and a European Council summit in June.
Analysts say new safeguards could effectively serve as a new trade-defense mechanism against China, though policy measures are still under debate among EU states.
By empowering Brussels to cap imports and impose sector-wide tariffs, the tool would target Chinese industrial exports in key markets like electric vehicles, steel, and solar panels, according to analysts.
Yuyuantantian, the state-run social-media account, said the measure is specifically aimed at China even though the EU hasn't explicitly stated that.
"The EU's economic and trade policy toward China is going further and further down a radical path," it said, citing several EU moves this year including the Industrial Accelerator Act aimed at bolstering the bloc's industrial capacity.” [1]
The EU Industrial Accelerator Act (IAA) is a proposed legislative framework by the European Commission designed to strengthen Europe's industrial capacity, resilience, and decarbonization efforts. "Made in EU" & Green Procurement: Introduces Union-origin and low-carbon content requirements for public procurement and public support schemes (such as electric vehicles, solar, and batteries) to drive demand for European-made clean tech.
1. World News: China Threatens EU With Trade Probes. Wall Street Journal, Eastern edition; New York, N.Y.. 30 May 2026: A8.
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